Revamping Kirby’s moveset in Super Smash Bros.

If you’re familiar with developer talk centered around Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, you might recall game director Masahiro Sakurai saying that Kirby is one of the most challenging fighters to develop – especially in Smash Bros. games with DLC characters. This is because Kirby has a unique neutral special for every single character, and each one gives him a unique hat to wear. Given that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has well over seventy characters, that means over 80 unique hats for Kirby were needed – plus seventy “Kirby-ified” versions of the corresponding moves.

At the time of writing, we’re not sure what the next Super Smash Bros. game will look like. Will it be a port of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the next hardware with even more characters? Or will it be sort of a soft reboot of the franchise with fewer characters, but new movesets for the returning ones? Whichever the case may be, we’ve come up with a new Copy Ability system for Kirby that would most likely make developing his character easier while remaining true to his series.

How would Kirby’s Copy Ability change?

At present, Kirby in Super Smash Bros. can inhale an opponent, swallow them, and then gain the ability to use that character’s neutral special for himself. It’s a neat feature that gives him many unique hats, but this isn’t how Kirby’s Copy Ability actually works in the games. There, he inhales an enemy that gives him a more broad Copy Ability. For example, inhaling a Chilly doesn’t transform Kirby into a snowman Kirby – rather, it transforms him into the slightly-broader Ice Kirby. Keeping this concept in mind, it may be possible to rework the way Copy Abilities function in a way that’s even more faithful to the base Kirby series.

Rather than obtaining a specialized Copy Ability for each fighter, the Smash Bros. dev team could program in several different “broad” Copy Abilities to save on dev time and make certain copied neutral specials less situational. For example, make a Fire Copy Ability that Kirby can access by inhaling Bowser, Mario, Pyra, or Charizard. Or a Spark Ability Kirby can access by inhaling Pikachu. That way, you can fit every fighter into one of these broad Copy Abilities. As it stands, Kirby doesn’t do a ton of inhaling in competitive Smash. Aside from cases like Shulk’s Monado Arts (which Kirby can put to great use), Kirby doesn’t often inhale when he’s used in competitive Smash matches. Inhale itself is punishable if missed, and the new neutral special he gets for risking damage often isn’t worth it. Categorizing fighters into broad Copy Abilities gives the dev team a chance to make Inhale more integral to Kirby’s play style, which just feels right for the character.

That being said, this does come with the side effect of less unique copied moves for Kirby to use. It might be a good idea to introduce a mechanic where a Copy Ability changes all of Kirby’s special moves, not just one. If you include ten different Copy Abilities, that’s a total of 40 unique special moves for Kirby to use. That might sound like a lot, but do keep in mind that Kazuya, who was added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as DLC, has over 40 moves himself. Implementing this system would also save the development team from having to make new hats for fighters added in DLC – just slot them into a Copy Ability.

Which characters would give what Copy Ability?

For our example, we came up with ten different Copy Abilities and organized the list above based on which characters would yield what Copy Ability. If you’ve ever played Kirby: Planet Robobot, it’s possible to scan an amiibo and receive a Copy Ability based on the figurine you scanned. Many of these, such as Yoshi giving Whip and Villager giving Leaf, are taken directly from the amiibo compatibility list in Kirby: Planet Robobot. For others, though, we had to get creative – it’s difficult to put over seventy characters into ten categories. The list we made is above, and we’ll explain each individual section below.

• Fire would certainly be one of the most common Copy Abilities in the game, given that so many characters use fire moves. Diddy Kong is here thanks to his Rocketbarrel Jetpack, and Zelda is here thanks to Din’s Fire (and because she didn’t fit well into any other category). For this Copy Ability, you could give Fire Kirby a neutral special like Bowser’s Fire Breath and a side special that’s a stronger version of his dash attack in Ultimate. For his down special, Kirby could roll up into a fiery ball and charge forward kind of like Sonic’s Spin Dash – but maybe not as strong as that move.
• Fighter is mostly self-explanatory. In some Kirby games, Fighter Kirby can charge up and throw a Hadoken-like projectile, and that could be his new neutral special here. His up special could be a rising uppercut much like the one Knuckle Joe uses. Pac-Man was placed into this tier because he doesn’t really fit into any other category, but he does have punching gloves. Hopefully that’s good enough!
• Sword is also self-explanatory, but for the sake of variety we put some sword characters into other tiers where appropriate (hence Toon Link in Water since sailing the seas is his thing). Sword Kirby could have a chargeable neutral special that unleashes a flurry of sword slashes, and his up special could be a sliding spin attack on the ground and a rising one in midair. Perhaps his down special could be some sort of sword-swipe reflector? In any case, Sword would give Kirby some much-needed range on some of his attacks.
• Spark could have a neutral special where Kirby charges up a field of electricity for him to store for later. If you perform a neutral special, it will fire the shot forward as a strong projectile. If you perform a down special, it will appear around him as a barrier of sorts that he can use to deal small amounts of damage to enemies. For his up special, Kirby could perform a thunderbolt strike that launches him upward. Most of the characters that give the Spark Copy Ability make sense – except maybe Dr. Mario. We put him here because his forward smash has a spark effect and it’s sort of the closest category to his abilities.
• Wing would change Kirby’s double jump animation and make it a little faster, giving him extra air mobility. His neutral special would allow him to fire a flurry of feathers forward, dealing minor damage to enemies. His side special could be a rushing tackle that grants good distance and power on the ground and in the air. His up air could be Shuttle Loop, a move that Meta Knight uses but is also given to the Wing ability in core Kirby games. Down special could then be a downward Shuttle Loop to really bring Kirby’s mobility to the next level. Steve is an odd inclusion here, but his Elytra wound up landing him in this category. You could argue for Fire, too, but he doesn’t fit terribly well into any other Copy Ability. Sure, he’s a fighter, but our Fighter category more refers to characters who fight with their fists or something similar.
• Jet would once again enhance Kirby’s mobility. His up special could be much like R.O.B.’s, except a little faster and with a bit more fuel in the tank. For neutral special, Kirby could charge up a jet tackle and unleash it by pressing the button again. Wario is here thanks to Wario Bike using engines and Rosalina is here because her up special, Launch Star, launches her kind of like a jet. That one’s grasping at straws, but there aren’t many tiers here that would work better for her.
• Leaf would be much like Wing in terms of how it works. For neutral special, Kirby could fire a whole bunch of sharp leaves that deal minor damage. Side special could be Leaf Swirl, a multi-hitting spin attack that moves sideways. Down special could be Leaf Hide, except reworked into a counter move of sorts. Peach and Daisy are here thanks to their ability to pull Vegetables (and that they’re both named after a fruit and a flower, respectively). Villager is here because Animal Crossing amiibo give Kirby the Leaf ability in Kirby: Planet Robobot.
• Whip is another longer-ranged Copy Ability that would help Kirby with his short range. Neutral special could be a command grab that grabs with the whip, and up special could be the multi-hitting Whip Tornado. For side special, Kirby could perform the 100-Whip Dash, which strikes multiple times and grants Kirby full invincibility for a brief moment. The character inclusions in this category should make sense for the most part. Yoshi is here because his amiibo gives Kirby the Whip ability in Kirby: Planet Robobot.
• Water is kind of an odd one. Inkling is here because the ink they shoot is a liquid and water is too (and because Inkling doesn’t really fit into any other category). For neutral special, Water Kirby could shoot a bubble of water that moves along the floor kind of like the Ice Climbers’ Ice Shot. For side special, Kirby could use a wave dash attack that strikes multiple times. For up special, Kirby could use a move similar to Greninja’s Hydro Pump.
• Hammer only includes four characters, but all of their inclusions should make sense. Kirby’s normal side special could remain for Hammer Kirby, and his down special could be a Hammer Twirl move that grants Kirby temporary invincibility. You could also give Kirby a side special of Hammer Throw, which would be a slow but powerful projectile that gets rid of his Copy Ability just like in the games.

With around ten different Copy Abilities, Kirby could become a more versatile character in Super Smash Bros. matches. Right now, Kirby doesn’t use Inhale much at all, and that feels counterproductive to his origin and character. This revamp would make Kirby feel more like Kirby while preventing the developers from having to make new hats for every single character they add to the game.

What do you think of having a couple of static Copy Abilities rather than a unique neutral special for every single character? Do you prefer the current system, or would you rather see something new in the next Smash game? Feel free to let us know in the comments down below.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (with Kirby’s current Copy Ability system) is available now for Switch. You can check out the official website right here.